Links of the Week (9/9/17)

Each Saturday we point you to the best preaching, leadership, and ministry content we have encountered on the internet during the week.

Links of the Week

The Top 8 Reasons Most Churches Never Break The 200 Attendance Mark – by Carey Nieuwhof

The Barna Group pegs the average Protestant church size in America at 89 adults. Only 2% of churches have over 1000 adults attending.

5 Questions for Pastors Preaching in the Middle of a Cultural Crisis – by Brandon Cox

When big news happens, pastors usually start an internal dialogue about the coming Sunday’s message.

My Thoughts On Dropping My Daughter Off At College – by Brian Dodd

If you’re a parent, read this. Seriously! As a dad to two little girls and twins on the way, I appreciated Brian’s thoughts greatly.

3 Reasons We Need to Develop the Pastor as Apologist – by Andy McLean

In light of the current cultural climate, I’m convinced another emphasis is needed—pastor as apologist. Just as pastors need to be equipped theologically to lead their people from God’s Word, they also need to be equipped apologetically.

The $200 Pre-Order Bonus I Just Added to “Finish” – by Jon Acuff

With Finish coming out next week you’ve been hearing more from me than normal, so I’ll make this quick.

My team and I just decided to throw in one final bonus for anyone who pre-orders Finish before Monday at midnight. (If you’ve already pre-ordered, you’ll get this bonus as well.)

Everyone who pre-orders Finish will get access to my 30 Days of Hustle Course for free.

On Preaching: My Ten Favourite Sentences – by Andrew Wilson

I’m not particularly looking to turn this into a series, but last week’s collection of sentences on devotional times seems to have helped some people, so I thought I’d do one more. Here are the ten most helpful sentences I have read (or heard) on the subject of preaching:

Leaders Must Grow as the Organization Grows – by Ron Edmondson

In my experience, it’s easier to hide bad leadership in a place, which isn’t growing.

However, the larger an organization gets – the more growth that occurs – the more bad leadership becomes apparent.

What to Do with an Anonymous Letter – by Thom Rainer

Short and to the point on this one…

3 New Outreach Realities That Many Churches Still Don’t Get – by James Emery White

One of the easiest mistakes to fall into is a “strategy rut.” This means you embrace a certain strategy during its anointed heyday, but then fail to keep abreast of how the Holy Spirit seems to be anointing different strategies now.

6 Reasons You Should “Resign” and “Restart” Your Role Once a Year – by Eric Geiger

Don’t do this daily because it requires you to pull away from daily responsibilities for deep thinking and can throw you out of your daily rhythm, but once a year you should mentally resign your role and start over. To be clear, I do NOT mean an actual resignation where you leave the job and hope to get re-hired the next day.

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